Belmont: Missing autistic teen from Fremont found safe in San Carlos

BELMONT -- An autistic teen who went missing after school in Belmont on Monday was found Tuesday morning sleeping beneath some eucalyptus trees in San Carlos, authorities said.

Police searched for 16-year-old Tyler Edward Simmons, of Fremont, until about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday after his father reported that he was not at the Belmont Public Library like he was supposed to be at 5 p.m., Capt. Pat Halleran said.

A custodian at Ralston Middle School told the family Tyler had been on campus about 7 p.m., four hours after he got out of school at Carlmont High two miles away.

Belmont Police and search dogs from the San Mateo County Sheriff's Office searched the surrounding area for about six hours before calling off the search for the night, Halleran said. The teen was found the next morning about 6:30 a.m. by a San Carlos resident who had just seen coverage of his disappearance on the news.

Tyler told officers he had become upset by an earlier fight with his parents over cellphone usage, and that he had walked all night until he got tired, Halleran said. He stopped to sleep beneath some eucalyptus trees on San Carlos Avenue near Alameda de las Pulgas, and was not injured.